Hands-on STEM
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is prevalent in almost every field and career. By fostering discovery, engagement and learning in small teams, children are able to develop significant cognitive and interpersonal skills through STEM topics. The hands-on STEM resources provided assist all children to discover and pursue their passions through exposure to STEM activities, role models, and learning opportunities. Moreover, students will gain confidence as they are exposed to diverse integrated experiences, engage in problem solving with others, and then share their work while they showcase their progress.
Key research shows that exposing children to STEM practices in context at an early age assists them in a variety of learning skills and competencies. Additionally, allowing children to work in small groups with hands-on minds-on activities aids in many areas of learning and social development. Finally, by providing opportunities to share and showcase work while responding to challenges and exploring different types of competitions, leads to a greater success in both STEM and in pursuit of other endeavors. The resources provided here are meant to assist parents, educators and other stakeholders to facilitate these engagements for children in all settings and situations.
Tools for Teachers Guide
The Tool for Teachers project guide was created through the generous funding of Howmet Aerospace Foundation. The aim of this project was to study and share materials and resources for teachers that can aid in STEM education especially in times of remote instruction and responses to crisis situations. This led to the development of digital resources for hands-on STEM that would be useful for student learning in an online world.
The guide linked directly below entitled “Tools for Teachers Guide 2021” has professional learning resources co-designed with over 100 teachers from six New Jersey districts. These resources are available in our STEM Resources digital repository linked at the bottom of the page.
Hands-On STEM Guide
The following guide is the result of the work of NJIT researchers, staff, and student STEM role models along with the many public and private partners including Apple and the Us ARMY. The work was funded by the National Science Foundation through the NSF INCLUDES Life grant and support from Howmet Aerospace Foundation grants. The materials in the guide have been developed and tested with our New Jersey school district partners in Hillside, Long Branch, Morris Plains, Newark, Princeton, and Weehawken. See our strategic partners section for a more complete list of partners and collaborators.
STEM in Your Home
These are activities and lesson plans developed by our educators and student STEM role models. These role models prepare a video of an activity and promote STEM and answer questions as a way to support educators, parents and other stakeholders as they help kids practice hands-on, minds-on STEM wherever they may be. Another effort is to have periodic webinars/talks by STEM subject matter experts, for example, to relate their research and STEM related topics to K-12 audiences with opportunities for question and answer interactions.
STEM Resources
All of our STEM resources are accessible and searchable on the NJIT STEM for Success digital commons page. As we continue our work, updated versions of these materials will be released periodically.